Thoughts on football, books, and life in general

Midlands misery

West Mildands Premier and Football League fans had a miserable weekend. The three teams that played, Walsall, Wolves and West Bromwhich Albion, all lost. The Baggies’ loss made headlines for all the wrong reasons after one of their own fans threw a coin at one of their players. By comparison, Birmingham City not playing didn’t seem so bad.

I don’t support the Blues because I think they are the best team and the rest are rubbish; I support them because my dad was born into a family that lived in Chesterton Road, Sparkbrook. If his family had lived a few miles from there, I could be supporting a different team now. So I only rejoice in the misery of other fans when my team is on the pitch playing their team. At other times, I sympathise with fans of other clubs because I know how it feels when your team does badly.

WBA fans at St Andrew’s

I also know how it feels when your own club’s fans behave badly. So I’d like to say that I’m sure the official response from West Bromwich Albion was right in saying, “ALL our true supporters will join the Club in condemning the sickening behaviour of a few individuals at the end of our FA Cup fifth-round tie at Reading.” When I think of Baggies’ fans I think of the kind of fans who helped to creat a great atmosphere when they packed the Gil Merrick end for our cup game last year; the idiot who threw the coin does not epitomise them.